Alligators 'n Roadkill

On The Road

Followers

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

We are indeed a nation in crisis, and nobody seems to care.

We
just took a road trip from El Paso, to San Antonio and then, to Austin,
Texas.That means we traveled on two
major Interstate highways, I-10 & I-35, plus a number of other roads.I know that there have been many reports over
the last few years about our nation's crumbling infrastructure, but apparently
nobody gets out on the highways, far enough from any cities, to see for
themselves.There are many miles of bad
road along both of the freeways we just traveled, and no sign of any efforts to
maintain or repair any of the damage to the roadways.

I
used to travel Texas a lot as part of my work, back in the 90's, into the early
2000's, and I was accustomed to seeing long stretches of road devoted to
"road work ahead," where the roads were being repaired, repaved, and
maintained.One famous sign had to do
with guardrail damage warnings, and then, the sight of a TxDOT work crew
repairing guardrails was a part of every road trip that I made.

We
saw a large number of warning signs this trip, but not one single crew was out
actually repairing any of frequent damaged areas we saw.The many damaged areas are clearly marked
with traffic cones and orange barrels, but no work crews were seen.

I
lost count of the pot holes very early in our first day on the road.And, I found myself constantly changing
lanes, seeking a relatively smooth path.I have to wonder just how long the trucking industry, which is so vital
to this nation, can continue to accept this situation.I have never seen so many alligators (the
strips of rubber and tire that line the freeway, from truck tires that have
literally shredded off the big rigs) as I saw these last few days.

I
also wonder where all the money has gone.You know, the significant portion of the price we pay for fuel at the
pump, that supposedly goes to the federal highway system, and the fees and
taxes and surcharges put on the big rigs for operation in every state?Maybe we have thrown away entirely too much
money for pointless wars, and wasteful foreign aid, and for horrendously
expensive airplanes that don't even work?Maybe just a bit too much in corporate welfare?Tax breaks for the rich, anybody?

Don't
the rich people realize that without transportation there can be no more income
for them?Don't they need good roads,
too?So, why isn't anybody stepping up
to fix our roads!?